The present invention relates to the fabrication of semiconductor structures. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of forming low and high minority carrier lifetime layers in a single semiconductor structure. Minority carrier lifetime is defined as the average time between generation and recombination of minority carriers in a semiconductor structure. Low minority carrier lifetimes are considered to be less than one microsecond, while high minority carrier lifetimes are considered to be more than one microsecond.
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is a well known method for fabricating integrated circuits that offers several advantages over devices formed from bulk silicon, such as higher switching speed and reduced power consumption due to reduced junction capacitance. Other advantages of devices formed by SOI are avoidance of latch-up and improved tolerance to transient ionizing radiation.
A well known method for fabricating an SOI structure having a low minority carrier lifetime is to grow silicon epitaxially on a sapphire substrate to obtain a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) structure. Epitaxially grown silicon having a low minority carrier lifetime can be grown in uniform, carefully controlled thicknesses particularly suitable for down-scaled CMOS devices. However, SOS is not suitable for bipolar transistors and CCD devices which require a high minority carrier lifetime.
A well known method for fabricating an SOI structure having a high minority carrier lifetime is direct wafer bonding. In direct wafer bonding, a layer of silicon dioxide is formed on a surface of each of two bulk silicon wafers. The wafers are then placed together so that their respective silicon dioxide layers are in contact. The wafers are then heated so that the silicon dioxide layers fuse, forming a single bonded structure. Finally, the bulk silicon is thinned by a combination of mechanical grinding and chemical etching to a thickness suitable for manufacturing bipolar transistors and CCD devices on the bonded structure. High minority carrier lifetime bulk silicon is unsuitable for CMOS devices, however, because of variations in thickness of the thinned surface and parasitic bipolar effects that can cause latch-up.
In view of the above disadvantages and limitations of the prior art, a need exists for a method of forming both low and high minority carrier lifetime layers in a single semiconductor structure.